The Best Movie, You Never Want to See Again?

pixelburp · 14-09-2020 8:25am #1

Was inspired by this article about the very same topic, as it was an interesting point of discussion - and one I had been thinking about recently anyway.

So. What's the best movie you ever saw ... ... that you absolutely will never want to watch again? And why, of course? We all have favourites we re-watch frequently, and obviously we rarely want to return to ostensibly bad films; but I think there are also those that for one reason or another, one just doesn't wish to touch again. Too slow, sad; maybe there's some personal aspect to the film that opens memories etc.

A go-to answer for me anyway would definitely be "Logan". It was a beautiful, elegiac movie and send-off of the X-Men universe of the 2000s. A deep, meaningful and genuinely Good Movie about making amends at the very end ... but ye gods I don't think I could bring myself to watch it again. That'd be speaking as someone for whom those X-Men films were a formative part of my pop culture life (growing up with both those films, and the previous X-Men cartoon of the 90s). Patrick Stewart as well being such a huge cultural figure - and thoroughly decent human being to boot.

I've said it before but "Logan" felt like a nihilistic rage, a burning down of that entire universe - to the extent that it retroactively made the series more depressing and doomed: all those struggles and fights - big and small - but Logan told us our heroes still lost ... and lost in the most heartbreaking ways imaginable. What they did to Professor X was evidence enough of that IMO. I really hate films that use mental illness or the cognitive decline of the elderly for plotting (a reason why "Joker" is probably another item on this list), so just on that aspect of the film alone makes it hard to want to go through it all again.

brevity · 14-09-2020 8:39am

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Although I have been thinking about revisiting it.

It's an hard thing to forget about someone with whom you have been in love with. It happens naturally of course but to have it done deliberately seems...cold.

I think Jim Carey's performance was absolutely excellent...perhaps for that I will (try) to re-watch it.

Dades · 14-09-2020 9:15am

Requiem for a Dream.

Man, that was a tough watch. But the type of movie that really stays with you, like great films do.

Homelander · 14-09-2020 10:10am

Irreversible. Great movie, but once was enough and it'll never quite leave you.

tunguska · 14-09-2020 10:14am

Joker

I remember coming out of this and remarking to a friend that I felt like I'd just been dragged through the wringer. Its an amazing film, from start to finish there wasnt a moment where I was bored or drifted off. The acting, the photography, the music, the dialogue.........it was all tight. It was such a convincing film and so brilliantly executed that it was actually like watching a man descend into madness right before your eyes. Which makes for uncomfortable viewing. Im glad it did so well commercially and critically but it'll be a long time before I can sit down and watch this again if ever.

Cartman78 · 14-09-2020 10:16am

Boyhood.

We had two young kids (both boys) when this came out so this was basically a horror film for us :-)

ixoy · 14-09-2020 11:08am

'Grave of the Fireflies'.

Superb movie and I'd prefer a punch in the stomach than receiving its emotional punches again.

brevity · 14-09-2020 11:13am

ixoy wrote: »

'Grave of the Fireflies'.

Superb movie and I'd prefer a punch in the stomach than receiving its emotional punches again.

Yes. I was trying to think of this one.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 14-09-2020 11:48am

American History X, mainly for the curbstomp scene.
I have a very adverse reaction to things happening to fingers (particulary the nails), and teeth. and this scene nearly had me turn off the movie.

Addle · 14-09-2020 11:52am

Similarly, the Wind that Shakes the Barley.

14-09-2020 11:54am

really good question

City of God is one of my favourite films, real tour-de-force stuff

but no way would i sit through some of the scenes with the kids/violence again

14-09-2020 12:00pm

tunguska wrote: »

Joker

I remember coming out of this and remarking to a friend that I felt like I'd just been dragged through the wringer. Its an amazing film, from start to finish there wasnt a moment where I was bored or drifted off. The acting, the photography, the music, the dialogue.........it was all tight. It was such a convincing film and so brilliantly executed that it was actually like watching a man descend into madness right before your eyes. Which makes for uncomfortable viewing. Im glad it did so well commercially and critically but it'll be a long time before I can sit down and watch this again if ever.

When I read the thread title this is the movie i thought of.

Fantastic movie but its a very tough watch.

The Crimson Rivers is another one which springs to mind. French murder mystery. Terrific movie but it's really a one-off type of watch.

I'd also add Oldboy. Another fantastic watch but can't see myself watching it again.

homerun_homer · 14-09-2020 1:05pm

I had this feeling after seeing The Lighthouse. I enjoyed the movie, it was batsh!t crazy the more it went on, but I felt no desire to see it again.

That may change of course. It was just an immediate feeling I had at that time.

unplayable · 14-09-2020 2:02pm

the revenant

stesaurus · 14-09-2020 2:16pm

Sin City, loved the style and the movie itself when I watched it on release. I couldn't watch it again though

Sleepy · 14-09-2020 2:28pm

I didn't enjoy it at the time, was the only one of the four who sat down to watch it who made it to the end and it's not a movie I'd ever recommend to anyone but over two decades later Todd Solondz' Happiness still comes to mind regularly which has to be a marker that the critical acclaim it received was deserved.

johnny_ultimate · 14-09-2020 2:42pm

I don’t think there’s any film I find to disturbing, unsettling or raw that I can revisit it again, but the ones I’m unlikely to rewatch (at least for many, many years) are gruelling long form films like Satantango or Shoah. Both films are harrowing in their own way, but I think it’s the sheer length of them - 7.5 and 10.5 hours respectively - that make them such a challenge.

Shoah of course is also a startling, relentless and matter-of-fact account of one of modern history’s evilest atrocities, and Bela Tarr films offer no shortage of long shots of misery: even the directors’ shorter form works aren’t ‘easy’ watches. But I think when a film goes well beyond the three or four mark, requiring a substantial chunk of one or two days, a sort of physical exhaustion sets in alongside the gruelling subject matter. Both films are among the greatest films ever made and worthy of any cinephile’s attention - but they’d both be a hard thing to sit through again until at least a decade or two after that first viewing.

Cetyl Palmitate · 14-09-2020 2:53pm

Uncut Gems

Great movie. It did such a good job of transmitting the manic tension and pressure of the main character that I felt stressed until the following morning.

No desire to go through that again.

p to the e · 14-09-2020 3:12pm

Like was mentioned above there are grim films which are fantastic that I may be reluctant to rewatch but still may at some point e.g. Martyrs, The Road.

The ones I'd be more to not watch again are those long cerebral muscle stretchers that were on the watch list for an age and I finally got around to, really enjoyed but just couldn't sit down to again. First one that comes to mind is Solaris. I enjoyed this more than I expected and it really gave me food for thought for a few days after but at roughly 3 hours I may not sit down to it again.

14-09-2020 3:16pm

Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon.

Very very true to life. The US police still have to get a grip.

14-09-2020 3:27pm

Not the best movie here, I did enjoy it in the cinema, but Sea of love with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. Reason being that once you already know the ending, (it's a whodunnit murder thriller if anyone doesn't know), the tension and suspense which made it so good the first time just evaporates with subsequent viewings. Still recommend watching it once though.

seklly · 14-09-2020 3:28pm

Kids from 1995 is the first one that springs to mind, it's quite disturbing and stays with you, well worth a watch (once!)

14-09-2020 3:52pm

Carlitos Way.

Al Pacino a criminal who wants to clean up.

His lawyer is coked out Sean Penn, perfect performance

Once is enough to watch

Character Building · 14-09-2020 4:08pm

Midnight Express is one that springs to mind for me. Watched it once about 15 years ago having picked up the DVD in an Xtra Vision 3 for 30 or 3 for 25 deal.

I remember thinking at the time I'm glad I watched it but that I never wished to view it again. The box is still sitting on the shelf and probably hasn't been opened since.

Easy Rod · 14-09-2020 5:05pm

Snowtown. Australian movie based on real life events about a serial killer. Relentlessly grim but very well made.

bnt · 14-09-2020 9:22pm

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. A quite astonishing and genuinely unsettling work that deservedly took the Palme d'Or at Cannes. If I watched it again, I think it would dilute the effect it had on me on first viewing.

Wedwood · 14-09-2020 9:33pm

Schindlers List.

A film everyone should see once, it’s nearly impossible to watch it again.

Optimalprimerib · 15-09-2020 6:51am

A quiet place. I felt that it delivered all it had to offer in one sitting. It was my favorite film in that year and probably a few years as it delivered a different experience in the cinema. However I feel that it's edge maybe lost with multiple viewings and the premise is delicate with some plot armour to protect it, so I am never going to watch it again to allow it to sit on the mantle as a film I loved.

Dunkirk and 1917 are two more that again the experience was great but multiple watches could hinder them rather than help them.

Car99 · 15-09-2020 6:56am

Dades wrote: »

Requiem for a Dream.

Man, that was a tough watch. But the type of movie that really stays with you, like great films do.

I watched that once probably 20 years ago. It still pops into my mind when I see some real life event that's comparable. I dont think I need to watch it again . Powerfully dark , once is enough though.

15-09-2020 8:08am

Half Nelson

American school teacher becomes junkie.

15-09-2020 8:12am

Donnie Brasco

Undercover cop's life experience in the mafia.

Johnny Depp with great support from Al Pacino.

Irish Aris · 15-09-2020 8:24am

Lee Tamahori's feature film debut Once Were Warriors.
I remember getting out of the cinema in a state of shock. A powerful film about domestic violence, very grim with no real resolution in the end.
It's been 25 years since its release and I have it on DVD but never attempted to rewatch it.

Fritzbox · 15-09-2020 8:28am

A lot of Tarantino's films I enjoyed watching the first time but have no interest in watching them again. Reservoir Dogs is the first film to spring to mind.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 8:31am

Dades wrote: »

Requiem for a Dream.

Man, that was a tough watch. But the type of movie that really stays with you, like great films do.

The very one I was going to post about.

The Accused is another.

Both are powerful but Good God were an experience to be sure.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 8:34am

brevity wrote: »

Yes. I was trying to think of this one.

That is another movie that is an experience.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 8:42am

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I don’t think there’s any film I find to disturbing, unsettling or raw that I can revisit it again, but the ones I’m unlikely to rewatch (at least for many, many years) are gruelling long form films like Satantango or Shoah. Both films are harrowing in their own way, but I think it’s the sheer length of them - 7.5 and 10.5 hours respectively - that make them such a challenge.

Shoah of course is also a startling, relentless and matter-of-fact account of one of modern history’s evilest atrocities, and Bela Tarr films offer no shortage of long shots of misery: even the directors’ shorter form works aren’t ‘easy’ watches. But I think when a film goes well beyond the three or four mark, requiring a substantial chunk of one or two days, a sort of physical exhaustion sets in alongside the gruelling subject matter. Both films are among the greatest films ever made and worthy of any cinephile’s attention - but they’d both be a hard thing to sit through again until at least a decade or two after that first viewing.

I’ve never heard of Bela Tarr or either of those films.

How have I not heard of films over 7 hours long?

pixelburp · 15-09-2020 8:49am

Certainly noticing a consistency of responses here in terms of tone: most of the answers centring around movies that really grind the viewer into the dirt through emotional turmoil - or in the case of Johnny's inevitablly left-field suggestions, pure misery & despair :pac:

Hard not to interpret the take away point here, that as artisitcally worthy or authentic those experiences might be, it's hard to want to return to something that intentionally makes you feel a horrible internal crawling sensation. Why visit that vicarious agony upon yourself a second time? Why even want to? A passing visit to another time or place, a 2 hour soujourn, can feel important in understanding perspectives outside your own - but I don't understand what SEVEN hours of intense torment can deliver that 90 minutes cannot? Beyond fast-tracking a visit to the GP for perscribed anti-depressents?

Daily life in of itself can be a tough slog - especially at the moment - so why take a work-day's length of time to emotionally smother yourself that much? It's a bit perplexing at first blush. It just reads like torture, akin to those US "black sites" that play Barney music without stop.

Dades · 15-09-2020 9:34am

pixelburp wrote: »

Daily life in of itself can be a tough slog - especially at the moment - so why take a work-day's length of time to emotionally smother yourself that much? It's a bit perplexing at first blush. It just reads like torture, akin to those US "black sites" that play Barney music without stop.

I agree daily life can be tough enough so I tend to veer toward watching stuff on the more "entertaining" end of the scale.

I didn't even finish Uncut Gems, as I just didn't want to watch the spiral of sh*t just getting worse any more.

The grimmest thing I've seen in recent years is The Apostle. And only because I like Gareth Edwards and Dan Stevens. Another great film I'll never watch again.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 9:42am

pixelburp wrote: »

Certainly noticing a consistency of responses here in terms of tone: most of the answers centring around movies that really grind the viewer into the dirt through emotional turmoil - or in the case of Johnny's inevitablly left-field suggestions, pure misery & despair :pac:

Hard not to interpret the take away point here, that as artisitcally worthy or authentic those experiences might be, it's hard to want to return to something that intentionally makes you feel a horrible internal crawling sensation. Why visit that vicarious agony upon yourself a second time? Why even want to? A passing visit to another time or place, a 2 hour soujourn, can feel important in understanding perspectives outside your own - but I don't understand what SEVEN hours of intense torment can deliver that 90 minutes cannot? Beyond fast-tracking a visit to the GP for perscribed anti-depressents?

Daily life in of itself can be a tough slog - especially at the moment - so why take a work-day's length of time to emotionally smother yourself that much? It's a bit perplexing at first blush. It just reads like torture, akin to those US "black sites" that play Barney music without stop.[/QUOTE]

I did not know that was a thing they used to torture people.

It seems that I'm a hard man after all. I've experienced days upon days of the Barney song. Even the meteor of it has me tapping my feet.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 9:43am

Irish Aris wrote: »

Lee Tamahori's feature film debut Once Were Warriors.
I remember getting out of the cinema in a state of shock. A powerful film about domestic violence, very grim with no real resolution in the end.
It's been 25 years since its release and I have it on DVD but never attempted to rewatch it.

I had heard of the movie when it was first released but didn’t get to see it until years later on DVD. I thought it was about parents trying to get their son away from gangs by educating him on the old Maori ways.

I had been to New Zealand a couple of times and everyone was so happy and laid back that i had it is my sub conscience that there was no crime or such.

For the first 10 minutes (?) the film is exactly what I had thought and then we get the literal

slap in the face

.

Mantis Toboggan · 15-09-2020 9:44am

Whiplash

Very good film and one that I've seen recently. I've recommended it to people but also told them I won't be watching it again.

Markitron · 15-09-2020 9:46am

I don't really watch dramas or challenging movies in general, so i would have to say Logan. Amazing film, but it is just a bit too much for me to handle.

loyatemu · 15-09-2020 9:48am

Deleted User wrote: »

Carlitos Way.

Al Pacino a criminal who wants to clean up.

His lawyer is coked out Sean Penn, perfect performance

Once is enough to watch

Deleted User wrote: »

Donnie Brasco

Undercover cop's life experience in the mafia.

Johnny Depp with great support from Al Pacino.

really? I've seen both of those at least twice and would happily watch them again. What's disturbing or difficult about them?

Markitron · 15-09-2020 9:54am

loyatemu wrote: »

really? I've seen both of those at least twice and would happily watch them again. What's disturbing or difficult about them?

I can kinda see how someone would feel that way about Donnie Brasco, its 3 hours of a good person risking his life everyday for years and in the end it completely ruins his personal and professional life.

Spon Farmer · 15-09-2020 9:57am

Markitron wrote: »

I can kinda see how someone would feel that way about Donnie Brasco, its 3 hours of a good person risking his life everyday for years and in the end it completely ruins his personal and professional life.

We all different limits I guess but if Carlito's Way and Donnie Brasco are a "tough watch" for someone then I think it is save to tell them avoid, like the plague, some the others mentioned in the thread. :eek:

The Raging Bile Duct · 15-09-2020 1:20pm

A Simple Plan, The Mist, Requiem for a Dream, La Haine, Marriage Story, Still Alice - I don't know if enjoyed is the right word but they were good movies that I don't know if I ever want to sit through again. There's other films that were just a bit too relentless and I don't know if I'd have the heart to sit through them again - Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer and Martyrs spring to mind.

Stuff like Million Dollar Baby I could never sit through again because it was just misery porn.

King of them all though is the documentary Dear Zachary. Best watched without knowing anything about it for maximum 'why is life so terrible?' pondering afterwards.

The Raging Bile Duct · 15-09-2020 1:31pm

Spon Farmer wrote: »

I had heard of the movie when it was first released but didn’t get to see it until years later on DVD. I thought it was about parents trying to get their son away from gangs by educating him on the old Maori ways.

I had been to New Zealand a couple of times and everyone was so happy and laid back that i had it is my sub conscience that there was no crime or such.

For the first 10 minutes (?) the film is exactly what I had thought and then we get the literal
slap in the face
.

Another one that springs to mind is Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth. I really only knew Kathy Burke from Harry Enfield when it came out so I was probably expecting some drama with a bit of light relief thrown in by herself. I was totally wrong on that score... it was a harrowing watch.

15-09-2020 3:57pm

American Sniper.

US Sniper in the Second Gulf War. The Iraquis hate the American troops more than ever.

He finally kills the leading sniper on the side of the terrorists. However, the target is regarded as a National Hero and Martyr by the Native population.
The Americans have to retreat back to base.

This movie is worth watching for the true depiction of war and conveys why the Iraqi populace came to utterly despise the Americans in the way they did. They go back to America. He develops PTSD.

I don't want to watch it a second time.

15-09-2020 7:53pm

The Deer Hunter

with Robert De Niro.

Don't want to see it again... the revolver roulette game. The insanity: Christopher Walken is brilliant. The Length of the movie.

flasher0030 · 15-09-2020 8:40pm

This may not qualify as the "best movie" part. But it's a film I saw in the cinema and I never ever want to see one minute of it again.

The Passion of The Christ. One big long torture scene.

Nedington · 15-09-2020 8:44pm

12 years a slave

The Best Movie, You Never Want to See Again?

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